


Brutal

by yeaka



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29930679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: There are some things worse than the water temple. And that thi—HEY! LOOK! LISTEN!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Brutal

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own The Legend of Zelda or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

It’s been six days, as near as he can tell—there are no holes in the ceiling to see the sunset, and the only indication of the passage of time is his own exhaustion. He could, as Navi far too frequently reminds him, play his way outside, but Link ignores her then as much as he does her incessant recommendations for him to stop and rest or make note of his current progress. Over the course of seven skipped years and half a dozen months, Link’s become quite accustomed to ignoring her. 

Sometimes she flitters off to a higher platform, glittering green, beating her little wings but not twinkling, not speaking then—even though those are the parts where her prompts could actually be useful. He had to figure out the Scarecrow Song all on his own. But he ignores Navi’s subtle hints to play it as much as everything else. Instead, he trudges slowly around the central platform, the echo of his iron boots ringing through the cavern. He isn’t even in the water and could take them off, but doesn’t, solely for this purpose—how _slow_ they make him. He wonders vaguely if his heavy footsteps bother her as much as her pestering bothers him. 

Then again, that’s not possible. There’s nothing in all of Hyrule at Navi’s level. Link knows that now. Even the men that tried to cage Epona, the incredibly sluggish waddles of the Zora King, _Ganondorf himself_ couldn’t reach her height. Navi is a feat all her own.

The water temple, normally a formidable foe, is nothing next to her. But Link makes it worse by deliberately pretending he hasn’t the foggiest idea where the next small key is. Given that Navi has to do nothing but observe, never fight or truly _help_ , she should know, but she either doesn’t or simply doesn’t say. Link’s hoping it’s the former. He’s hoping that when she reaches her wit’s end in this nightmarish pit of fluctuating water, she’ll have no recourse but to give up on him entirely. Sooner or later, she’ll have to grow tired of circling the same square rooms over and over again, and she’ll flutter back to the Deku Tree and sob that something must be wrong; clearly Link’s _not_ the fabled hero, and she should attach herself to someone new and try to salvage what’s left of the world.

Normally, Link knows he’d lose his own mind far before a fairy would. But this is his own desperate scheme, and he gets himself through day after day of watery horror by picturing peace and quiet: imagining what his journey would be like _without_ a glowing pink ball constantly reiterating everything he already knows. 

He doesn’t care if he has to spend the next seven years inside the water temple. He can justify it; the place is confusing enough. He’ll live off the non-annoying fairies in his bottles and wait to be gloriously _alone_.

Fortunately, he only has to wait seven days. Right when his internal clock is turning, telling him the night is almost over, Navi buzzes out around his shoulder and hovers before his face, ringing incrementally. _“Hey,”_ she chirps, the exact same way she does every time. _“Maybe... maybe we should split up? Or I could look ahead myself?”_

Link nods. Yes. _A thousand times yes._ It’s not the clean break he was hoping for, but he’ll take it. He’ll take any excuse to split up. She continues twitching and humming for a moment as though processing, trying to decide if she can really leave him, and he wills her to GO.

She does. _“Okay. Stay right here! Don’t move!”_ She gloriously, wondrously turns and beelines around the next corner, taking her infernal alerts with her. 

Link instantly darts through the door into the central tower, sinks right down to the bottom, and hopes he can get the hell out of the temple and far away before Navi even realizes he’s gone.


End file.
